Security in Space The Next Generation - UNIDIR

NEXT GENERATION SPACE SECURITY CHALLENGES
Jessica West
INTRODUCTION
As the sustainable use of outer space becomes increasingly critical
to security issues on Earth, including national, international, human,
environmental and economic security, policy leaders must act to ensure
that this environment remains safe and usable for the next generation. In
order to do so, it is necessary to understand the types of challenges that will
face the international community in outer space in the near future.
The following analysis of next-generation space security challenges is based
on research contained in the Space Security Index series of publications.
The Space Security Index provides an annual assessment of the status of
space security based on objective and evidence-based analysis to promote
transparency and confi dence in space activities, and to support the
development of policies that ensure secure access to space for all. 1
The defi nition of space security developed by the Space Security Index is
the secure and sustainable access to space and freedom from space-based
threats. This is very much an environmental approach to space security that
has as its goal the common security of all actors in the space environment.
Because outer space is a particular, and particularly sensitive, environment,
it presents unique governance challenges to the international community.
Based on current trends, the most signifi cant challenges in the future will
involve:
sustainability of the operating environment;
the increase in space actors; and
the proliferation of space technologies.
These types of challenges are interconnected and in many ways reinforce
one another, demanding a holistic approach to managing the security of
outer space.
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